Oktoberfest: Opening Day
Saturday 19th September – Opening Day
Getting early to the beer brewers parade through the city is important to get a good viewing position. We did not arrive early. Consequently, we found a position about 5 rows back which wasn’t too bad for a 6ft4 gentleman such as myself, but the girls would have struggled to get a full view of proceedings. Spirits were high and the music was plentiful. Friends and families rode the parade floats, enjoying the first of the Oktoberfest brew and throwing out flowers to the crowd. I always though parades were kind of lame, but when done with the importance and scale that this one was you start to see how they are really quite relevant and enjoyable. Police guarded the barriers of the parade watching toward the crowd. This would normally be a vibe-killer, but I’ll be damned if they weren’t some of the nicest, smiling and helpful police I’ve ever seen – some of them even left their posts to pick up thrown flowers that dropped short of the crowd and gave them to little children. Next to me short mother and little girl struggle to get a view on the parade. An old German man standing higher up on a traffic island offers, without words, to hoist the little girl up to his side for a better view. She exciting accepts and is given the old man’s hat while watching the parade. At this point my heart is practically melting under all the love and goodwill in the air.
The parade clears through and the masses then follow behind to its final destination: the Oktoberfest grounds “Theresienwiese”. When we reach the grounds we hear the gunshots into the air signifying that the first keg of Oktoberfest has been tapped by our favourite mayor Dieter Reiter. O’zapft is! With all the crowd and excitement of opening day, it’s clear that a coveted spot in a tent is going to be impossible to secure. Luckily, I’ve lived in this city for 6 months and have some local knowledge. One of our favourite beer gardens is no more that 200m from the south-side of Theresienwiese and it serves the same Oktoberfest brew, at about 20% less cost. We seek refuge there and tuck into some very tasty Augustinerbräu Oktoberfestbier. A full brass band appears and starts playing all the folk classics, rounding out the full “Oktoberfest without the tourist crowds” experience. A few “Ein Prosit”s, litres of beer and waffles later, Laura and I have worked up the confidence to tackles some rides!
Entering back into the grounds, there are already a few casualties lying on the grassy hill. I direct Laura on to “Playball”, a ride that I enjoyed a few weeks ago at the Oktoberfest training run: Rosenheim’s Herbstfest (Autumn Festival). It’s a small ride but certainly packs a lot of g-forces. Think Disneyland’s tea cups on crack and on a raised, tilted platform and you’ll be getting somewhere close. Significantly amped up, we then moved onto the Olympic roller coaster. Laura was positively shitting herself as the roller coater slowly climbed to its highest point. “Oh no, what have I done!? This is crazy! Oh god!” or something to that affect was proclaimed before it took its steep decent into fun! It wasn’t too scary and was over relatively quickly. It would have been better if it did two laps, I thought. Laura realised that it wasn’t actually that bad once it was over, the “Playball” ride certainly had a lot more velocity and force. We then headed for the iconic Swing Ride to get a night view over the festival grounds and Munich city. It was themed in an airport/airplane style so your ticket is a “boarding pass” and you go through the departure gate to get to the ride! Take off time and it rises high above the festival grounds. I excitedly point out the landmarks of the city to Laura as we fly around on the swing seat. She doesn’t really notice them as she holds on for dear life. Back on the ground we all decide that we are thirsty again and head for the beer tents.
A light but persistent rain starts to set in. It’s blowing pretty sideways, so we scope out a good seating position outside the Hacker-Pschorr tent against a wooden merchant hut that shielded us from the rain. Great spot! Shortly after a lady appears to ask if we want anything to eat/drink. With weather like this there is only one thing to be had: goulash soup! (and another beer, of course). The goulash soup is soul-warming and as meaty as a Rammstein riff. The beer is also very good. No time to reflect on their greatness though, as the rain starts coming down hard. Everyone bails from their post and seeks salvation under the tents outside roofing. It’s a tight squeeze and many are trying to get into the tents, but there is no chance. I have feint memories of talking in Simpsons quotes, the international language, to someone next to me while enjoying my last beer.
When the rain desists to an acceptable level we make a break for home.
